


The Sharpshooter

by bunnystealsyourcarrots



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: AU Western, Alternate Universe, F/M, RSSC, Reylo - Freeform, gunfights and smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-15 20:46:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10557462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnystealsyourcarrots/pseuds/bunnystealsyourcarrots
Summary: A gunslinger, a girl, and a date with gun smoke.





	

_May 1st, 1878_

 

A cloud of dirt kicked up underfoot along the long country road. Pebbles flying left and right as the little tomboy pitched a fit. Absolutely no dandelion left unswat as she tore down her warpath going the opposite way of home.

 

“You’re too small, Rey!” the twelve-year-old scowled, small mouth distorting grotesquely while mimicking her father. “Leave it to the men, Rey!”

 

Yanking the paisley ribbon out of her hair, the little girl huffed. Her mind making up with a determined nod of her head as she accepted that she’d always been right when assuming before that it wasn’t all that great to be one of the fairer sex. No, not at all.

 

Bending over, Rey picked up the biggest rock she could scrounge up. Hurling the stone with all her power straight into the new fence post her pa had put up, she grinned wickedly at the thwack that sounded. Figuring that she wouldn’t mind hearing a few more.

 

It was in the middle of her fourth hit when a whistle grabbed her attention.

 

Pausing with her fist still raised in the air, Rey swiveled around. Big eyes rounded in shock when she spotted a man all in black only a few feet away. The stranger was as tall as she was small- a lean muscular tower with at least six years on her, and a good three feet.

 

Staring up at the stranger blotted out the sun for Rey, his presence entirely eclipsing her small worldview, and even squinting couldn't help her make out his expression. All the little girl could sort out was the vague outline of features hidden under the shadow of a wide-brimmed hat. Only the glossy tips of his twitching handlebar mustache catching the light when he clucked his tongue against his teeth.  

 

“With the arm you got on you, gal-boy.” He whistled again, shaking his head. “Ooooh, I pity that poor post.”

 

“You making fun of me, sir?” Rey squawked, rock still raised in her hand.

 

“Oh no,” the stranger replied in a seemingly earnest tone, tipping his hat in greeting. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

 

Sensing that he didn't mean any harm, Rey dropped her hand. “You’re not from around here are you?”

 

“No.”

 

“You come up to see my pa?”

 

Leaning against the fence, the stranger nodded.

 

“He’s not around." Rey frowned, her wee nose scrunching up. "Won’t be back for hours.”

 

“Where he gone then?”

 

“ _Hunting_ ,” Rey grumbled.

 

“Hmm, I take it that you’re not entirely pleased with that.”

 

Rey sniffed. “In church, they say not to speak ill of your parents...”

 

Digging her toe into the ground, Rey remained politely silent for a beat before looking up with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “And so I _can’t_ tell you that for my birthday my ma got me a dolly instead of the black gallowses I asked for to hold up my britches. And I _can’t_ tell you that when I got madder than a possum in heat, she shouted that ‘young ladies don’t need anything to hold up britches- because they shouldn’t be wearing britches.’ ”

 

Crossing his arms over his chest, the man took a harder look at the feisty girl. His piercing gaze not missing the dirt caked around her nails nor the mud sprinkled across her chin. Sizing her up enough in less than a minute, he confidently stated, “You don’t strike me as the dolly sort.”

 

“I’m not!” Rey agreed, tugging at her buttoned up shirt in aggravation. “And I also _can’t_ tell you that I’m most angry at pa, ‘cause after cake, he went out with my uncles to hunt without me. Last year they said I was too young to go. Now they told me the same thing again, but I’m a whole year older! So don’t that make me not as young?”

 

“Indeed.”

 

“That’s what I said too, but they wouldn’t listen!”

 

“Seems rather unfair.”

 

Jutting out her lower lip, Rey enthusiastically nodded. “I agree! And on the way out pa was actually laughin’ about how silly it is for ‘little girls to be firing guns’. ”

 

“A sixteen-year-old sharpshooter named Annie Oakley might kindly disagree.”

 

“She’s my hero,” Rey gasped, going all starry-eyed before miserably grumbling, “But I guess it doesn't matter, ‘cause pa said that wanting and needing are two different things and that I shouldn’t be upset just ‘cause I _wanted_ to shoot, ‘cause I don’t _need_ to yet.”

 

“That’s hogwash,” the stranger’s rich baritone voice thinned into a hiss. “One never knows what form trouble will take, but you’re sure to find it if you can’t handle a gun.”

 

Looking up towards the blazing sun, the man squinted. Taking a second to track the time above, he absently scratched at his thick black sideburns. Quietly contemplating over it all before letting out a grunt as he came around to his decision.

 

“You need a teacher.”

 

Shrugging off his black duster, the man stepped back. His coat was folded in two and resting in the grass before the girl could argue that one teacher was already too many. From his satchel, the stranger withdrew two tawny apples that were then perched on top of the fence. No a single word of explanation passed between them throughout the odd process, and Rey only realized that he'd finished when he walked back to her. With each step, the twin holsters on his hips swung back and forth. The silver adornments on the leather caught the light as they swayed and little Rey’s stomach flipped for the first time since they’d met. Feeling uneasy a split second before the man slipped one of the menacing weapons into his hand to expertly twirl it around one finger.

 

The man in black was a sidewinder you never saw coming before it bit you in the ankle. A smooth lethal predator. For the second time since they’d met, Rey’s courage plummeted as she stared at the glittering rubies along the grip.

 

“I-I don’t want to hold you up, sir.”

 

Not missing the hitch in her breath, the man flashed her a warm smile. “It’s no bother at all.”

 

“I-”

 

“Do you know what this is?” he interrupted.

 

“A g-gun.”

 

“Well yes, but more specifically it’s a Colt Single Action Army revolver.”

 

The stranger couldn’t help but smile over the little mite’s lack of awe for one of the greatest firearms ever created. No gasp followed the name, no recognition sparked up in her eyes. Instead, the girl remained far more interested in the inlaid rubies that gleamed like dripped blood along the pearl handle. Big hazel eyes stared hypnotically at the jewels, but the man would have sooner died before pointing out that perhaps the girl was a smidge more feminine than she realized.

 

Flipping open the gun cylinder, he then dropped in one bullet. “That means that when you load the gun you slide in one bullet, then you skip one, and then load in four.”

 

“Why?” Rey asked, fear forgotten as curiosity snuck back in.

 

“So you can carry it around.”

 

Rey’s brow crinkled in confusion. “Is that just because it’s lighter?”

 

“No,” he chuckled, flicking the cylinder back to closed.” You load it that way because after cocking the hammer you’ll end up with that empty chamber on top. So even if you were to accidentally fire the trigger while bending over you won’t shoot yourself in the foot.”

 

“I do like my feet.”

 

The stranger grinned. “Reckoned you might.”

 

Raising the loaded gun, he pulled the trigger to show that nothing would happen. Satisfied that he'd sufficiently strengthened the trust between them, he dropped down to one knee in front of her. Once he was at eye level with Rey, he extended the weapon to her while pointing out the metal lift on the end of the barrel.”Now that’s your sight.”

 

“What's it do?”

 

“If there’s any lesson you learn today, it’s that you look at that little metal lip when you shoot. If you care to live to see another day, you never assume that you’re pointing the barrel at a heart if you’re too busy glaring into somebody’s eyes. You play the tough guy like that, and I guarantee that you’ll hit air above their shoulder. It’s a rookie mistake. The sight is what's actually important, and as long as that’s aimed at your target then you’ll always be true.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Now, look past that sight,” he instructed. “What do you see?”

 

“I see two now!”

 

“And when you squint you’ll see one again.”

 

“I see one again!”

 

Carefully handing over the revolver, the stranger molded her small fingers around the grip.

 

“When you finally fire don’t jerk the trigger. Gun pops back at you, but you stay smooth the whole way through. You’ve got life and death in your hands there, and so _you_ control it. You own your motions, and don’t you dare flinch and give your prey time to get away.”   

 

To her credit, Rey’s hands didn’t tremble. Determined not to waste an opportunity she wasn’t likely to earn again, the girl tampered down her giddy excitement. Focusing without hesitation, without questions. For months all she'd desired was the weight of a weapon in her hand, and to have somebody agree that she was capable enough to wield it. What her parents never gave her, a stranger provided. So under his watchful gaze, she turned into the ultimate pupil. Drawing focus away from her nerves to center on the big picture, trusting in the will of her master.    

 

“Now when you’re ready, you fire.”

 

Without hesitation, she followed instruction.

 

A click later a plume of gunpowder exploded into the air. Birds scattered to the clouds, but the tiny girl didn’t so much as blink. Didn’t even realize anything clouded her vision at all as she gawked at the apple she’d knocked clean off the fence.

 

“I hit it!”

 

“That you did, gal-boy.”

 

“I can’t believe I hit it!”

 

“Now what you’re gonna do next is you’re gonna bug your pa,” the stranger explained without any hint of playfulness as he held out his hand for the gun’s return. Not snapping or throwing around his authority again, but treating the girl as his equal as she carefully handed back the revolver. “You give that tyrant hell until he’ll do just about anything to calm you down. Then when he’s good and desperate, you tell him that you’ll drop all your theatrics over hunting if he’ll just agree to a small bet.”

 

“What am I betting?

 

“That he’ll have to take you out hunting if you can shoot a tin can off the fence.”

 

“But that’s bigger than an apple!” Rey exclaimed.

 

“It sure is,” the stranger agreed, his lips pulling into a merciless smile. “And that’s how you’re going to make your pa regret ever doubting you.”

 

Swiftly bending over, the man reclaimed his duster. Sliding the garment over his broad back, he strolled over to pick up the remaining apple. He tossed the fruit once in the air before taking a bite out of it.Tearing into the sweet until juice dribbled down his chin that he then smeared off with the back of his hand. “Well, I reckon I’ll head back on into town.”

 

Rey’s mouth dropped in shock. “Hey! You didn’t even shoot that apple.”

 

“No.” he smirked, taking another bite. “Didn’t I teach enough to earn it, though?”

 

Rey bashfully smiled. “Yeah, suppose so...but aren’t you gonna wait for my pa to come back?”

 

“No,” the stranger grunted, finishing off the apple- nothing left when he was done except for spine around flesh that he snapped in two while coldly smiling. “Seeing as he’s not coming into town today, I don’t suppose that I’ll be keeping my appointment with him.”

_______________________________________________

 

_April 30th, 1886_

 

A man named Hux stared up at the ceiling inside the Occidental Saloon barroom. Leaning back in his seat, he hemmed and hawed to his heart’s content. Making a proper show of anxiously weighing his options, the handsome cad pressed his cards against his chest, holding those five close to heart as if that might help turn his luck.

 

"I just don't know," the redhead petulantly huffed, rocking back forward in his seat.

 

"Make up your damn mind, Irish," the burly gambler across from him snarled."How long we got to wait for you to grow a spine?"

 

Rubbing at the back of his neck, Hux grimaced. "That's not very nice."

 

"Oh, you better hope you don't see me mean, flowery boy."

 

"How much is in the pot again?"

 

"It's sixty," the ancient dealer croaked. "Same as it was five minutes ago."

 

Locking eyes with the other player, Hux idly tugged at the end of his mustache. "Well, since apparently, I don't want to see you mean, I suppose I'll just have to raise twenty."

 

"Those last couple hands you pulled were sheer luck, Irish,” the other man mocked. “Even a babe on his mama’s teat draws a couple kings in a row, but you’re bluffing now."

 

Tossing in another ten, the beady-eyed gambler ravenously grinned over the top of his cards. "You’re nothing but a fancy little dandelion flopping in the wind who can’t even see that it's about to break. So _sure_ , I'll pay more to see you lose."

 

"But that's all your chips."

 

"No. That's money well spent."

 

Putting an end to the boasting, the dealer cleared his throat. "Gentleman, show your cards."

 

Fanning their cards out on the table revealed that Hux owned an unforgiving row of royalty. His four queens sitting pretty with smiles that mocked the useless flush shaking in the other gambler’s hand.

 

Grabbing the heap of chips on the table, Hux smirked. "Unfortunately for you, it appears that some dainty little flowers still have thorns."

 

"You cheat!" the losing gambler shouted as he shot up from the table. His hand flying to where his gun should have hung if it weren't checked in at the front of the barroom. "I'll shoot you dead, you miserable son of a bitch!"

 

Hux roguishly winked.  

 

"Meet me outside, and we'll see."

______________________________________________

 

Hours later, a giant of a man raced up the hotel stairs two at a time. Sawdust puffed up behind him with each thundering stomp up, but he paid no mind to the chaos he stirred up. After a taxing ride into the mountains, he physically ached. Sore and itching to comb out the dirt caked into his beard, he irritably tugged his tie loose while opening his door. Already believing himself at the peak of annoyance, but going more rigid with vexation the second he found his partner seated behind a large oak desk. The expensively dressed man sitting there bold as brass without looking nearly guilty enough about it.

 

“Why are you in my room?”

 

“Nice ride, Kylo?” Hux asked, calmly rolling a coin along the back of his knuckles. Far too used to being scolded. Far too used to ignoring it as well. “I'd hoped that perhaps the vibrations from a vigorous ride might jostle the stick out your arse, but you still appear sulky. Honestly, I’ve seen armless Confederates look cheerier.”

 

“Why are you in my room?” Kylo firmly repeated.

 

“Well, seeing as I’ll be requiring the tub soon, I went ahead and let myself in.”

 

“How long you been in here for?”

 

“About twenty minutes.”

 

“Then what have you been waiting for?” Kylo growled, tossing his vest and duster down onto the bed. Aggressively plucking open the onyx buttons going down the front of his black dress shirt, he meant to show his intention to bathe first come hell or high water- and with the red devil himself in the room, it appeared that hell was in the lead. “And what do you mean that you’ll be requiring the tub soon?”

 

Before fashioning a witty reply, Hux's mouth widened. His breath suspiciously catching, and the stuttered noise might have signaled a stumbled-upon epiphany if it weren't for the unmistakable thudding that followed from underneath the desk.

 

Kylo's eyes narrowed in scrutiny.

 

"Creaky furniture..." Hux weakly explained.

 

"Jesus Christ, Hux!" Kylo roared, smacking his hand against the bedpost. "Has somebody been servicing you under the table this whole time?"

 

A thoroughly unrepentant Hux chuckled. "Mama always said that gentlemen should be able to multi-task."

 

Pacing back and forth, Kylo hissed out, "He could have heard anything."

 

"True, but he wouldn't have been able to repeat much with my cock in his mouth."

 

"I’m fixin' to tan your hide," Kylo warned, glaring murderously. "You're too damn bold!"

 

In response to Kylo’s rage, the lothario made a show of bobbing his arm up and down underneath the table. Proving just how much bolder he could be. Not the least bit ashamed at the moment since he'd caught Kylo in plenty of compromising situations over the years.

 

"Don’t get your dander up," Hux countered, his breathing escalating.

 

"Don't tell me what to do."

 

"God Almighty, you need to relax before work tomorrow," Hux whined, gesturing to an envelope. "Look, there’s more than enough cash there to pass time for a couple more hours while I explore…” Hux trailed off, mouth fluttering to catch an elusive word before laughing it off. "While I explore this charming man who I paid enough to forget his name."

 

Choosing not to see the deed completed, Kylo snatched up the envelope. "You're incorrigible."

 

Hux laughed. "Always."

__________________________________________________

 

Shoving others out of the way, Kylo tore down the hallway again. Seething, chomping at the bit. His rampage shaking the stairs as he narrowly resisted the temptation to turn around and castrate Hux.

 

When Kylo stormed past other patrons in the hotel, they wisely steered clear. Folks scattered to get out of the wild looking man's way. Egos were abandoned left and right as grown men avoided so much as even brushing up against him if they could help it, and yet they felt the chaos that he radiated long after he’d passed by. From head to toe, he defied the natural order. His beard too thick to be civilized, eyes too cold for friendship, and his fists too large to risk offending.

 

In 1886, a wrong look could leave a man lead-heavy in the gut. Tempers flared too easily, guns fired too quickly, and so people avoided Kylo as he avoided them right back: never one for stomaching weakness anyways.

 

The jingling two double eagle coins in his pocket called for use with each step. However, as Kylo was in no mood to drink that much money away in the barroom, he stepped out onto the street. Palming the coins in one hand, he was dead set on taking Hux’s advice to at least spend Hux’s money.  

 

Planning to damn well enjoy it too.

 

Dodging steaming piles of horse excrement, Kylo navigated to the end of the bustling street. Keeping his head down and his senses sharp, he cut a path through the crowd. Aware of his surroundings at all time but ignoring the shouts to buy a paper, a bible, or a room with an intimate view.

 

It was laughable how little knowledge, faith, and purity actually held worth in the scorching hell called Buffalo, Wyoming. Sins alone ruled the boomtown, and so Kylo’s coins remained in his pocket. Not one cent offered to charity if he could find cleansing salvation in the form of a freshly shaved face that day.

 

Outside of the General Store there sat the lone barber chair that Kylo had spied when they rode in. Unfortunately, there were now at least twenty men gnashing their teeth while crowding around the door. The feisty lot of them spitting, yelling, and hissing at each other as if they were toms on the prowl for pussy.

 

“It always like this?” Kylo hollered at the closest man to him. “This what you go through for a shave?”

 

“Naw, Doc Stevens is out of town,” the gangly man shouted back, standing on his toes to look over the next fellow in front of him. “Ain’t no other choice but for Horace to dig out the bullet.”

 

Kylo scowled. “You’re all just waiting to see a wound?”

 

“Wouldn’t you?”

 

“No,” Kylo turned away, spitting on the ground. “I’ve seen plenty.”

 

“Try the Outpost Saloon then for a shave.”

 

Everything about the town’s atmosphere set Kylo’s patience on edge. All he’d desired was a warm bath, a bed to sleep in, and perhaps something resembling peace before dawn. A day of no particular importance sounded just about right for him, but so far he’d only received irritation, disappointment, and the cloying wave of lady’s handkerchiefs the second he stepped into the saloon.

 

_You can gesture all you want, sugar._

 

_Won’t get you any closer to my cock or courtesy._

 

Pointedly overlooking the elegant velvet furnishings, his dark stare scanned the saloon for the hypocrisy corner. The lame excuse necessary for good Christian men to visit a den of sin usually made him smirk, but this time around he’d actually require the service. As luck would have it, the barber chair sat empty. Striding over, Kylo then settled in without a second thought. His back in the seat with boots up - not about to wait for somebody to ask him if he needed help when he could show them with far less effort.

 

Unlike Hux, Kylo was nothing if not economical.

 

Less than a minute later, the madame of the house came calling upon her newest client. The sound of her swishing skirts announced her arrival, but it was her perfume that punctuated her particular skillset. Years earlier, Kylo had discovered that women you could smell before you spied them were women up for purchase. Necessity demanded to cover up the stench of sweat before the next lucky customer, and Kylo had found that the richest charmers were always as pungently practical as they were pretty. Judging by the whiff he caught off the stunning woman dripping in jewels, she’d been plenty busy that morning.

 

“Afternoon’,“ the statuesque blonde cooed, dipping into a slight curtsy. Her silver satin-covered heel sweeping far back less on account of refined manners, and far more for the excuse to shrewdly journey her eyes down his form. Taking note of the outline of coin in his pocket, the fullness of guns on his hips, and the bulge in his trousers by the time she stood back up again. “How may I service you?”

 

“You the owner of this establishment?”

 

“I am,” she answered, smiling with faux demure. “Madame Phasma, so pleased to make your acquaintance.”

 

“Charmed,” he gruffly repeated, removing his hat. “Is your barber free today?”

 

“He’s….indisposed,” Phasma apologized, pouting her ruby lips while fanning off her bosom. “The poor man was slaving down here all morning, but he was just called upstairs to entertain a unique client.”

 

“Is there anyone else who can put a razor to my skin?”

 

“With your disposition, I’m sure we’ll find someone easily enough.”

 

Catching the madame’s teasing threat, Kylo’s mouth twitched in amusement. “Perhaps somebody who won’t bear down until they hit a vein.”

 

“Ah, that is harder.“ Madame Phasma laughed, her hand pressing against breasts as they threatened to pop clean out of her low cut corset. “But I think I have an enticing option for you.”

 

Holding up a bell, the woman rang twice.

 

Seconds later a hefty male servant came to take Madame Phasma’s whispered request before scurrying off again. Slipping through the crowds alone, the man returned back promptly with a young woman in a slim cream dress. No extra adornments needed for the implied ingenue who refused to meet Kylo’s curious stare.

 

Before the man could take umbrage, Madame Phasma impatiently snapped her fingers. “Fawn deary, introduce yourself.”

 

“You’ve already said my name,” the woman muttered before Phasma’s narrowed glare made her reconsider her insubordinate streak.“But, I should be delighted to repeat it. I’m Fawn, sir.”

 

“It’s a real pleasure,” Kylo replied, and struck mesmerized by her primrose pink lips, he oddly enough meant it. “I’m Kylo, but I fear that you can’t provide for my needs.”

 

“What do you need?”

 

“A chance to feel like a man again.”

 

At his words, the woman’s eyes widened.

 

“But I’ll settle for a shave,” he quipped, amused by how deeply her freckled cheeks reddened.

 

Clapping her hands together, Madame Phasma tittered. “Perfect, now that you’ve all met, I’ll leave you to sort out the particulars. Although, if you two decide to journey upstairs then you know who to ask for a key.”

 

Pleased to have made a match, the gaudy woman departed. Absently scratching the back of her hand as if that might free her from her skin, the left behind waif said nothing. For some reason, it seemed that wherever Kylo looked, the woman appeared overwhelmingly intimidated. Every inch of her body screaming discomfort that he didn’t believe he’d rightfully earned yet.

 

_Why should a soiled woman recoil from me?_

 

 _Does she see herself above me?_  

 

“What’s your problem?” Kylo barked, accidentally asking the question in his head before clarifying through clenched teeth. “I mean, don’t you know how to shave, girl?”

 

The woman startled, immediately dropping her hands. “I know how to shave.”

 

“Where’d you learn?”

 

“Used to watch my ma shave my pa, and then after she died while having a baby it was my job.”

 

Snapped out of her nerves, the temporary barber removed a long cloth, a ceramic bowl, a towel, foam, and a razor from the cabinet beside the chair. Her motions were fluid, her manner obedient enough to get to work after she’d realized that her client’s temperature ran as hot as the fire crackling in the hearth next to them. Eager to have the deed over with, she clipped the long cloth around his neck without once meeting his stare. Turning away, she then filled a kettle with water before slipping the vessel above the flames. While waiting for nature to take over, she busily tied an apron around her slim waist. Not bothering with small chat through her routine, she silently poured the warm water over a second cloth that was then gingerly placed over Kylo’s face.

 

Under the towel, she could have sworn that there came a muffled moan. It wouldn’t have been the first she’d heard that day. It wouldn't be the last.

 

Satisfied after sufficiently opening up his pores, the woman removed the towel. In her palms, she worked up a foamy lather with shampoo paste that was then liberally applied from sideburns to the middle of his thick neck. Her nimble smooth fingers massaged with each swipe. Coating his skin with that white cream that he would have much preferred if it had come from between her thighs.

 

Yes, Kylo was not immune to carnal pleasure.

 

Not especially when the woman in question hadn’t a noticeable scent at all.

 

“You don’t often go upstairs, do you Fawn?” he asked.

 

“No, sir,” she cleared her throat, staring at her fingertips circling over his skin. Caressing him lightly with the hope that she'd avoid his sting after her next reply, ”I’m no soiled dove.”

 

“No, you’re a fawn,” Kylo cruelly smirked, finding dark amusement in the utter ridiculousness of debating a woman’s name in a whorehouse as if their familiarity would extend beyond the night. Hating to pretend for one minute that it even mattered what he called her when another could change her name within the hour.

 

“It’s still the truth.”

 

“You’re such a skittish timid little fawn,” he mused. “Is that what they like best about you?”

 

“Who, sir?” she questioned, lips hardening in annoyance as her fingertips moved down the length of his throat.

 

“The men who buy you.”

 

“Nobody buys me-”

 

“Is this what they pay for?” Kylo snorted, cocking an eyebrow. “Your false modesty? Is this innocence act the game that helps husbands cheat on their wives?”

 

“How dare you-”

 

“Is that why they call you little fawn?" Kylo demanded, riled up the more she denied her nature while pretending she was above him. "Is it because your big doe eyes make them feel young? Or maybe is it on account of that pretty petal-colored mouth that looks primed to suckle us dry?”

 

Slapped off balanced by his crude interrogation, the barber backed away from the chair. Narrowly resisting wringing his neck, she picked up a long razor from the table. Holding the upper hand again with a sharpened blade near his jugular. The silver gleamed in the light, and it was her pure delight to threaten her captive's vulnerability after he'd so brutally questioned hers.

 

“What would you like, sir?”

 

“A straight answer, but I'll settle for you freeing me from this filthy beard.”

 

“All of it?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Widen your legs then,” she ordered.

 

It was Kylo’s turn to look stunned before obliging her request. Standing between his legs, she clutched the blade. Leering over him with a reach close enough to give the monster the shearing he deserved, she licked her lips. No longer afraid of the man with hands large enough to snap her in half. No longer fearful of his bite behind the thick wooly mask. Only feeling satisfied that for the next few minutes he’d be forced into silence.

 

Pulling his skin taut with her fingers, she carefully skimmed the razor up his neck.  “You presume to know too much about me.

 

Wiping the blade against the towel, the barber flashed the sharp edge. Showing off how close he came to danger with each pass down his skin. Living for the tightening in his jaw as the razor came down again.  

 

“You don’t know me any more than you know any other woman here, but you make your judgments all the same," her icy voice dug in as she slid the blade up. "Mocking me because it makes you feel big.”

 

The razor glided over his jaw.

 

“Joking because it makes you feel clever.”

 

The razor scraped up his cheeks.

 

“Bullying because you wrongly assume that you get a free pass to mess up every world that you encounter.”

 

The next time she smeared Kylo's hairs onto the towel, the woman paused her work to enjoy his suffering. Taking her time and his discomfort. Noticing when she looked down that a white-knuckled grip held onto the chair arm and feeling sadistically satisfied that she’d managed to cut into him without leaving a mark.

 

“But I can make assumptions too,” she commented.

 

After dipping the razor in water, she skimmed dangerously close to his full lips. A flick of her wrist could keep his mouth from spitting out any more vindictive wrath, she could hack until his outsides matched his insides, but she showed mercy. Expertly wielding an edge, she left him flawless. Restraining her power, and treating the stranger far more carefully than he’d treated her.

 

“You hurt,” she whispered, clearing another strip of hair as all he could do was stare up at her. “I bet you hurt so bad that you’ve twisted everything up in your head. Lying to yourself for years about some distorted belief that makes you think the only thing that can fill up the dark cavern inside of your chest is dragging us all into there with you. You think that’ll help. It won’t.”

 

Against her fingertips, she felt his breathing speed up.The dominant below her struggled to keep still. Not about to give the woman any excuse to sink the blade in deeper, he momentarily took what she gave him as he stewed in an emotion she couldn’t name.

 

_Loathing perhaps._

 

_Shame._

 

_Something that makes him look like he’d rather chew skin off my bone then confess his weakness._

 

Focusing on giving the brute the shave of his life, the barber didn't stop to critique her work. Through every attack against him, she kept up a rhythmic flow of pulling, shaving, and wiping. Parrying each word thrust with a clean sweep of her blade.

 

“Just so we're clear," she continued, "I’m not a lady for sale, but it would be fine if I was too.”

 

Setting down her weapon, she skimmed her free fingertips down his cheekbones. While twirling the ends of the mustache she’d left him, the woman’s features hardened in spite. Tugging the hairs more fiercely than was necessary as she confessed,

“From birth, women are denied the choices that you take for granted. So I won’t apologize for refusing to be somebody’s wife to avoid debt, and I wouldn’t ask for your approval even if I did sell my body. You see, when my pa died, it turned out that he’d gambled away more than I could afford.” Shaking her head, she bit out.“The absurdity of my sheriff daddy’s weakness for vice pissed me off something fierce when I couldn’t even yell at him once I found out. ‘Cause I couldn’t likely howl at a dead man, now could I?”

 

“No,” she answered herself, scowling. ”Life is hard, and that’s why I’m not looking for your understanding when I tell you that to keep the farm going I required more income than the best peaches in all of Wyoming could buy me. My prize winning fruit could only provide so much, and so now I sell what I can to keep hold of the small bit of legacy I’ve inherited. That’s my lot in life. That’s how I end up shaving arrogant men who assume that the dollar they spend means they’ve bought the chance to run me down too.”

 

As she wiped off the last of his trimmings her hand shook. Her body quaking from the exertion of unloading burdens off on an ogre who she gathered couldn't care less. Exhaling out of her mouth, she refused to meet the stranger’s stare again. Furious at the stubborn pride in her that made her speak up in the first place. Fearing that she might actually slit his throat if she saw an ounce of pity waiting for her.

 

Wetting the towel once more, she smeared off the last shavings from her torturer. Using a delicate touch, she patted his skin dry for the end of service before realizing with a jolt that underneath the hacked away beard was a man ten years younger than she expected. Instead of a grizzled ferocious forty-year-old, he was easily in his early thirties.

 

Even though anger colored his skin he remained a painfully alluring man. A man possessing uncommonly angular cheekbones, pink lips impossibly full, and an aquiline nose fit for an Adonis. A man with rich brown eyes that blackened the second he recognized her appraisal before her gaze lowered. Remembering her place again, she flushed while remaining fascinated all the same by the thought of what his mouth might look like if he smiled without malice. His fetching dimples would surely light up his face to brilliance, and it physically pained her that he was the most handsome, intriguing creature. Humanity at its finest under all that brutality.

 

A man who could just as well lash out after she’d put down her weapon.

 

“Are you done?” he asked, voice eerily calm.

 

“Yes.”

 

Running his tongue along his parched lips, Kylo slowly inhaled. Saying nothing more as his eyes followed the flustered woman as she unclipped the cloak off of his shoulders. Intensely studying his prey who stammered, “That’ll be a dollar.”

 

“Did you say your pa was sheriff?”

 

“He _was_ until four years ago...” Wincing at the words too painful to say twice, she changed the subject. “Um, that beard must have taken a year to grow.”

 

Kylo’s face paled. “Two.”

 

“Then why’d you shave it all off?”

 

An easy enough answer dangled off the tip of his tongue, but after nodding his head in resolution, Kylo reached out instead for her wrist. Stroking a fingertip over her delicate skin, he praised without words. Skating shivers down her body that caused her hand to rip away in a panic that accidentally sliced a thin nail scratch across his eyebrow.

 

“I-I’m so sorry,” she apologized, backing away in horror as ruby droplets sealed her fate.

 

“No,” Kylo declared, rising out of the seat as his gaze darted around. Mortified and livid at once over his behavior as one too many people took notice of their disagreement. “I’m the one at fault. Forgive my impertinence, and please excuse me for being so bold.”

 

Tossing down a coin, Kylo abruptly left the saloon before she could reply.

___________________________________________________

 

Swishing around amber fluid in a tumbler, Hux thoughtfully studied his drink. Watching the syrupy liquor smear down the sides of the glass as if it were the most fascinating thing in the world, he sighed. Tricking anyone else into thinking that he was contemplative, but Kylo could see right through the charade.

 

“Are you seriously going to avoid looking at me for the entirety of this discussion?” Kylo asked, grinding his teeth.

 

“No,” Hux smiled, still looking down.

 

“Hux...you’re behaving absurd.”

 

“I can’t help it,” Hux fiendishly teased his old friend while shielding his eyes.“It’s just impossible to properly converse with you after you’ve shaved your beard. Every time I look up now, I fear that I’ll be stunned into silence by your overwhelming beauty.”

 

Smacking the drink out of Hux’s hand sent Hux’s chin jerking up to face Kylo's grin.

 

“What the hell?” Hux yelled, brushing brandy off his trousers.

 

“Well that got your eyes up, didn’t it? And lookie there, you aren’t stunned into silence. ”

 

Hastily pouring himself another drink, Hux’s nostrils flared. “Crude man.”

 

“Now can we get back to business?”

 

“Very well,“ Hux conceded, rolling his eyes. “Go on.”

 

Hitching his thumbs into his gunbelt, Kylo leaned back in his seat. “First of all, you can’t go out to the show tonight.”

 

“Why the devil not?”

 

“We’ve had good luck in this town before, but whenever you indulge in folly there’s always a scene,” Kylo reminded him, casually taking a drink as his associate groaned out his aggravation. “You simply can’t help but draw attention to yourself.”

 

“That’s an exaggeration,” Hux sighed, rolling his eyes again.

 

“So you didn't shoot a man in the arm earlier?”

 

“Well yes, but he’s the one who asked for it.”

 

“He asked to get shot?”

 

“Not in those words, but he called me a cheat.”

 

Kylo laughed. “You are a cheat.”

 

“Yes, but it’s rude to point it out.”

 

Draining the last of his liquor, Kylo sternly stared above the rim to stress his point to his rascally friend. “We leave tomorrow,” he warned with finality, “so no more inconveniences.”

 

“Oh hush, there’s nothing inconvenient about my dalliances other than having to discuss them with you.”

 

“Stay. Out. Of. Trouble.”

 

“Where's fun Kylo?”

 

“My father was a silly, careless enough man for the both of us.”

 

Before Hux could rudely counter, a knock struck the door. Setting down his glass, the redhead strolled over to open it. Greedy for any opportunity to escape the suffocating judgment in the room, he answered with a polite smile that promptly broke out into full-on wolfish as he appraised the woman waiting at the door.

 

“Who is it?” Kylo asked.

 

“An inconvenience," Hux smirked.

 

Before Kylo could stand up, Hux had ushered the female barber inside. They exchanged pleasantries in warm friendly tones as though anything about the situation was normal as Kylo simmered in his seat. Ready to tell them to hang in hell before Hux scooped up his hat and jacket. Waving a goodbye, he sang on his way out, “I’ll just leave you two to some distracting pleasure.”

 

When the door shut, Kylo’s mouth slanted in a display of subtle irritation. “What are you doing here?”

 

Holding out a gloved hand, the woman showed off a coin. “What you left was ten times what I make in a week.”

 

Kylo shrugged off his gesture. “You deserved it.”

 

Raising her gaze up to the scratch along his eyebrow, she frowned. “That’ll leave a scar.”

 

“I deserve it.”

 

Resting her hands on her hips, the lady barber looked lost for words. Unsure how to proceed but unable to keep from staring at her handiwork. Her bright eyes taking the measure of the man who had every right to tell her to piss off, and appearing relieved as much as confused that he hadn’t.

 

“Why did you shave your beard-”

 

“Ah, ah, ah,“ Kylo cut her off, raising up from his seat. “First question is mine, and all I care about is how you found me.”

 

“Easy,” she bragged, her mouth quirking up into a cheeky smile. “A man that can tip like you ain’t staying anywhere else other than the Occidental. That's just common sense, and then all I did after that was ask for the room with the surliest animal.”

 

Leaning against a wooden bureau, Kylo offered no smile back. “That’s either brave or awfully stupid of you.”

 

“Well, you haven’t killed me yet.”

 

“The day’s still young.”

 

As her breath stuck in her throat, she had no answer to that.

 

“What can I do for you, Fawn?” Kylo’s brusquely asked. In all her life, she’d never heard a voice thicken so quickly to ice- all the warmth bleeding out to make room for strength. At the sound of that gravelly rasp, her skin broke out into goosebumps. Fear crept under her resolve, but she couldn’t bring herself to run away.

 

After all, how could somebody so generous be all that bad?

 

“I-I wanted to apologize.”

 

“You already did.”

 

“Where are you from?”

 

Ignoring her question, Kylo stepped in closer. “If shaving is how you earn your keep then why did you fight your employment with me?”

 

“You terrified me,” she admitted. “You seemed like the sort of man who doesn't take no for an answer. I...I worried about your requests.”

 

“And now?”

 

Reaching her hand up to touch the wound she’d caused made Kylo flinch.

 

“Don’t,” he warned.

 

“Why not?”

 

Backing her up against the door, Kylo rested his stare upon her lips. “Because after you touch me again I can’t promise not to touch you back, Petal.”

 

Shifting from foot to foot like the ground had gone unsteady beneath her, the woman hesitated. Her hand suspended in the air as all the possible outcomes played out in her mind. Her nerves battling with excitement until fear lost out to anticipation. Once so sure that she hadn’t come over to share lascivious relations with the dangerous stranger, she couldn’t deny the air charging between them. The attraction sparking up to ignition inside her veins; a heat making her melt as his voice turned velvety soft,

 

“Do you know why I can’t stand to call you Fawn?”

 

“No,” she breathlessly replied, swallowing hard.

 

“Because there’s not one inch of you that’s weak.”

 

Resting a hand against the door beside her shoulder, Kylo became all that she could see, fear, or hope to feel. Breathing in her intoxicating scent, his husky voice lowered further, “You’re a fierce little thing, and I suspect that nobody has ever told you that you’re delicate, have they?”

 

“No.”

 

“You’d likely have slapped them for suggesting it, wouldn’t you?”

 

“Yes,” she whimpered, the word straining to get past the fluttering butterflies taking off in her chest. “I-I’d have hated it.”

 

The corner of his mouth twitched before Kylo gently took her hand in his. Feeling bold as both of them likely replayed the last time he touched her, but this time around she stood still for him. No fight in her as he tugged the ivory lacey glove off one finger at a time. While watching the speeding rise and fall of her chest, he slowly raised her bare hand to his mouth. Passing up the back of her hand, he intimately pressed his lips to the center of her palm.

 

“But you are delicate, Petal,” he breathed out reverently, lightly biting her palm.”I could break you in so many ways. Hell, I’d like to.”

 

“You asked why I fully shaved,” he murmured against her skin, “and the answer is that I needed to feel your touch directly on my skin.”

 

When his lashes swept upward, nobody had ever looked so hungry for her.

 

Nobody had ever made her feel so naked while fully clothed.

 

Logic warned that she ought to feel cautious up against the wall with a stranger, but what power did fear have in the face of rapture? What control could she pretend to maintain once he ran the tip of his tongue up her middle finger? Licking her skin like he’d never tasted anything sweeter, drawing a fingertip into his mouth to suck. Turned on by his obscene enjoyment of her flesh, her lashes fluttered closed. Longing for everything he had to give as he sounded like he’d die happy if only he could lick every last inch of her first.

 

“Rey,” she shakily confessed. “My name is Rey.”

 

Nipping at her fingertip, Kylo grinned. “That name suits you.”

 

Sinking her teeth into her lower lip, Rey groaned, “Jesus Christ, my name on your tongue.”

 

“Just wait until you hear me scream it,” Kylo purred.

 

Ducking his head down, he made her his in a flurry of needs and choked off moans. Nothing gentle when his tongue glided along hers. Nothing cautious when he parted her legs while deepening the kiss. Stroking against her, he devoured her inhibitions touch by touch. Owning each sense as his own strained groans proved how much he was already her’s.

 

“I-” Rey gasped, pulling back. Her hand flexing against Kylo’s chest without pushing him away. ”I-I don’t normally...I’m not one of those-”

 

“Of course you’re not, Petal.” Kylo assured her, tracing his fingers along her cheek. “You're not like anyone else.”

 

Tipping up her chin, she kissed him again. An all-consuming voracious desire made her tug his plush lower lip between her teeth, and when he groaned she was finished with wasting time on words. Suckling between bites, she forced out gravelly sounds from his throat that she’d never dreamed possible. Taking more from him, thriving on those sexy rumbling purrs that she felt all the way down to her toes.

 

Unfastening the pearl buttons at her throat, he panted, “Do you want me to stop?”

 

“Yes,” Rey insisted, but when the stranger’s lips rose off of hers, she desperately tangled her fingers in his hair. Pulling him back to her with a harsh whimper, “ _No_.”

 

Shucking Rey's dress down to the floor, Kylo ran his hands back up her ivory petticoat, plain corset, and chemise. Eager to feel more of her, he growled as his hands passed along too much lace and satin for his liking. Unraveling the long laces in the back of her corset, he marveled at that point when she could take in a full breath before he savagely stole it right back. Sealing their lips together again as Rey barely noticed her corset hitting the floor.

 

“You’re not good, are you?” Rey whispered against his mouth.

 

“No,” his breathed out, “but I can be good for you.”

 

Hiking her petticoat up to her waist, Kylo followed the path of Rey's satin garters. Sliding his hand between drawers, he caressed the soft skin beneath. Licking her shoulder as she begged for him to touch more.

 

“Please-”

 

With each curve of his fingers up, Rey accepted her depravity. Arching her back, she fully gave herself over to letting him please her every way he desired. Completely drunk on the unfathomable pleasure cascading down her body, she gripped his biceps as he coaxed out tiny sounds of ecstasy. Adoring each gasp that he earned, Kylo fixated only on her needs. Memorizing each tremble for lonely nights ahead, he slid over and over into her. Guiding her closer to what she urgently pleaded for until his lip curled up in triumph as she squeezed uncontrollably against his knuckles.

 

“That’s it pretty girl…” he groaned, pumping up cream covered fingers. “That’s it.”

 

Sagging against him, Rey lightly sobbed. Overwhelmed, completely unable to articulate what had come over her, she shivered in his hold. All the times she'd touched herself alone paled to the sublime feeling of them joined together, and against his neck she begged for more. Needing him again anyway she could have him. Threading her fingers through his hair, she pulled him close while he wondered if God would forgive him for the mistake of having her.

 

_Good things like her aren’t meant for me._

 

Surrendering completely to his tutelage, Rey didn't resist when Kylo scooped her up to toss her on the bed. Spent from her orgasm, all she could do in response was admire the toned man confidently peeling off the last of their layers. Sharing his lustful intent before sharing his surprised laugh when he discovered the holster secured on the outside of her hip. That sound was better than she imagined, the flash of his dimples enough to do her in. Naked and willing in the center of the sheets she was his to teach, to care for, to fuck senseless. Removing the last of his clothing, he intended to do all three several times over.

 

Climbing up the bed, he kissed his way from her ankles to her hips.

 

Fascinated that only he had ever seen a sight so breathtaking.

 

Foolishly wishing that he could be the last.

 

Sucking hard upon her hip, Kylo followed the red mark with four more. Bruising, biting, adoring. Distracting her in the best possible way from noticing how hard he jerked his hand below the waist. Fisting his erection, he milked his shaft. Priming himself up and down for as long as possible before he couldn't wait any longer.

 

It would hurt, but nobody ever met him without experiencing pain, and so he leaned down.

 

Brushing his lips along her earlobe, Kylo gently spoke her name once before roughly biting. Hearing her pained shout in his ear a half second before he eased his cock between her thighs. Successful with having diverted the tension in her body, he slid into her already tight warmth. Barely holding himself steady when her nails savagely carved into his spine, and unbelievably turned on by her clawing at his flesh as he claimed hers.

 

“Oh God,” she whined in desperation, throwing her head back. “Please...please.”

 

Showing her kindness for as long as possible, Kylo carefully paced his thrusts. Going slow, his fingers glided between them. Beating pain out with pleasure, he swirled over and over until she bucked up against his hand. Treasuring that feel of something good for them both, he stared down into her lust-hazed eyes.

 

“So gorgeous,” he breathed out against her neck, having a lick.”You're so damn gorgeous.”

 

Never before had he felt a woman clutching his shoulder blades as if she were terrified that he’d leave her at any moment. Digging her heels into his back, she demanded all of him. Seizing his heart in his chest with each desperate quivering of his name. Recognizing a paralyzingly need in her that could match his own, he tensed in shock before driving his hips forward again. Thrusting harder, enjoying her while he could.

 

Gathering her wrists in one hand, Kylo held them up above her head. Restraining her while imagining what she’d look like trussed up by her corset laces. Imagining her waiting for him bound like that after a long day at work.

 

Closing his eyes, he shut out a tempting future that they couldn’t share.

 

Knowing that one night would have to do, but that in one night he could do her well.

 

“You feel so good, so impossibly good,” he moaned, kissing her shoulder to keep from vowing any promises that he couldn’t keep.

 

Pistoning forward, Kylo felt her thighs trembling faster. The effort to hold back the peak of her desire failing. Losing the battle she never cared to win with a scream of his name, she fell apart for him so lovely.

 

“Fuck,” he growled.  

 

Pretty sentiments left him entirely as he reached between their bodies to remove himself. Jerking off into his hand, he scattered pearls of sticky white affection across her breasts. Squeezing out the last of his lust until glossy streams rolled off her skin.

_______________________________________

 

As he slept, Kylo's legs rustled under the covers. Breathing out heavily against his pillow, his senses slowly sharpened to recognize the delicious pressure surrounding his cock. Warmth, wetness, and something else flickered him to full alertness that was well worth getting up for.

 

Opening his eyes, Kylo stared down the length of his body. Blinking twice just to make sure he wasn't imagining the determined girl moving over him, he followed that dainty pink mouth sheathing around his cockhead. In awe of how beautifully she sucked him off just as he’d shown her he liked.

 

“Hell, you’re a quick learner.”

 

Appreciating the breathy compliment, Rey flicked her tongue. One suck at a time, she rewarded her teacher. Her exhalations heating Kylo's skin with each plunge farther into the back of her throat and once her teeth grazed his shaft, he lost it. Weaving his fingers through Rey’s hair, he guided her up and down. Taking control that she happily surrendered until she’d swallowed every last drop that splashed onto her tongue.

 

Dropping his head back onto the pillow, Kylo raggedly exhaled. His muscular chest heaving with exertion as Rey lazily kissed her way down his shaft. Teasing his sensitive skin, amusing herself as he scrubbed a hand down his face.

 

“What time is it?”

 

“Early,” she answered, playfully biting his abs.

 

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping then?” he teased, combing his fingers through her hair that he’d thoroughly enjoyed messing up.

 

Resting her chin on his upper thigh, she shyly looked up at him. “I couldn’t sleep.”

 

“And here I thought I wore you out.”

 

“You did,” she answered with a blush, “but I kept fearing that I’d wake up to find you gone.”

 

At her words, Kylo’s mouth turned down a fraction. “Would you miss me?”

 

Rey nodded.

 

Kylo dropped his hand, shifting up in the bed away from her. “You don’t even know me.”

 

“How can you say that after what we shared?”

 

“Petal,” Kylo tersely warned, flicking damp hair off of his forehead. “This was natural, even inevitable for us, but sex isn't always worthy of a love ballad.”

 

Crossing her arms over her chest, Rey refused to indulge him. “No, that’s not true. Anybody else you could toss out like trash, but I know _you_. I-I've seen how you watch me when you don’t think I’m looking.”

 

Glaring at him when his mouth obstinately firmed in response, she stressed, “What we share isn’t ordinary at all, and you feel that too.”

 

“Rey-” he started, but when a touch of pity dropped into his voice, she cut him off.

 

“No, you’re right that I don’t know a damn lot about you, but I do know that you’re not bad for me either.”

 

Staring up at the ceiling, Kylo bitterly laughed. “Darling, I’m rotten for everyone.”

 

“I bet you’ve said that enough that you almost believe it,” she hissed, agitated that he could think so little of himself when she felt a reservoir of affection for him brimming over inside of her. “But you could stop that pattern at any time.”

 

“No Rey, some people make bad choices because they aren’t lucky, and some of us just like to.”

 

Pulling back the sheets, he started to get up. “You’re better off letting this stay simple, easy.”

 

Fisting the sheets in her hand, Rey impatiently snapped, “There's nothing easy about us! We’re not simple either, and we don’t have to live at extremes, Kylo. The only option can’t be that _you’re_ bad and so  _I_ don’t get to have you. There's a connection here no matter how much you lie to yourself, and what’s the worst that could happen if we try out being happy for a change?”

 

_You’ll get killed because of me._

 

Rubbing uncomfortably at his mouth, Kylo muttered, “Nothing Rey, nothing is going to happen between us. This is just another town-”

 

“But I am not just _another_ girl,” she snapped. “We’ve met before, you and I.”

 

Instead of denying her claim, Kylo’s jaw tightened.

 

“After you asked about my pa, it hit me where I knew you from.” Rey said, crawling up to him on her hands and knees.“The beard threw me off at first, but then I saw that recognition dawning on you when I said when my pa died. I saw you look sick.”

 

“Walking home from the saloon after you left, I couldn’t keep from remembering how you once were. You don’t know how many days I’ve thought about that birthday when you made me feel important, listened to,” Rey whispered, kissing her way up his thigh. Placing devotion up hip bones to ribs to right on top of his racing heart.

 

“The day I won that shooting bet you told me to make I felt like I could do anything, be anything. I’d shocked my pa by beating him, and the first time we went hunting together I was so darn happy. Lord, anything seemed possible, and for a while there I actually thought I might join a traveling show as a star sharpshooter...of course that didn’t happen, but it was nice to have dreams for a while thanks to a nameless stranger.”

 

Shaking away her nostalgia with a sad smile, Rey sucked down a breath. “So yes, you may figure that you’re not a good man, but you did a good thing.”

 

Trailing a finger along her jawline, Kylo sighed, “I can’t be counted on it again.”

 

“Good and bad can live in the same person. One doesn’t damn the other out of existence just because there’s an imbalance,” Rey reminded him, holding his hand to her cheek. “Heck, even the sun and moon share the same sky.”

 

The impassive expression that Kylo wore softened for a beat before he decisively shook his head. “I’m sorry Petal, but all I’ve ever inherited was the ability to eventually disappoint you.”

 

“You don't know what I can handle.”

 

“I know that you're sweet, strong, and far too good for me.”

 

“Stubborn, stubborn man..." Rey breathed out, closing her eyes. "Okay, then when you headin' out?”

 

“Tomorrow,” he admitted, his dark eyes glistening with something close to regret. “I’m here on business, and then three trains later I’ll be in El Paso.”

 

“Do you live there?”

 

“No.”

 

“Good,” Rey smiled, lightening the mood. “I’ve always hated Southwest weather.”

 

“Rey- ”

 

Curling up against him, Rey silenced his excuses with her fingers. “Fight with me in the morning.”

______________________________________

 

An hour later when Rey woke up again, she reached out until she found him.

 

A blur of mouths, apologies, and hurt passed between them as their bodies joined under the pale lamplight. Their frantic tugs and pulls dampening the sheets as they fought tooth and nail for pieces of happiness during what little time they shared. Leaving bruises, scratches, and even wounds deep below the surface as they couldn’t get enough of each other, couldn't resist giving their all. The two of them trading heated dominance over and over as Kylo attempted his best to be gentler while Rey pleaded in his ear for a primal fuck. Needing all from him if this was all she could ever have.  

 

Both of them demanding more than anybody else could ever offer them, and both of them keenly aware of it.

 

_I wish I deserved you._

 

Moments after reaching their passions, they clung together in the middle of the bed. Legs tightly twining them into one as Kylo softened inside of her- unable in the end not to experience everything with her if this was their last time. Holding back tears threatening to push over, Rey traded an unconvincing smile when they eventually separated.

 

“Is that what it takes to fully satiate you on a Tuesday?” she asked, blowing out a shaky exhale. ”Do you just go around compromising every woman’s virtue in town before dawn?”

 

“Is it Tuesday already?”

 

Rey tightened her grip on his bicep. “That's not the important part.”

 

“Oh,” Kylo’s mouth curved with mirth that didn’t reach his eyes. “Well, as to answer your presumptuous question. No, I don't need to compromise every woman’s virtue on a Tuesday to satiate myself. Just yours will do fine.”

 

Sharing the same pillow, they smiled again, forcing their final moment together to be pleasant.

 

________________________________________________ 

The next time Rey woke up there were deafening pops.

 

Explosions fired off one after another outside of the window as her instincts kicked in. Rolling off the bed to safety, Rey’s eyes darted around the floor for any sign of her lover. Finding herself alone, her panicked heart hid in her throat. The chaos swarming over her in dizzying waves as she struggled to find her voice.

 

“Kylo!” she eventually screeched out, but when a bullet shattered the glass window, she could only worry about herself. ”Fuck!”

 

Allowing her adrenaline to fuel a naked shimmy across the floor, Rey slid her belly on glass littered ground. Fighting for survival, she cried out with every cut closer to her clothing heap. To the sounds of non-stop violence slicing the air, she frantically dug through satins. Clawing at her clothes like a crazed animal until her breathing slowed back to normal once she clutched comforting metal.

 

“Oh, thank you. Thank you.”

 

Scampering over to the window, Rey reached it in time to see the bank door fly open. Dashing out full speed, two robbers in black rained lead into the waiting crowd. Bullet after bullet thundered from their guns, but instead of a muddied frenzy, the men shot cleanly. They hit all their screaming targets. Taking aim where they pleased, one blew off the back of Sheriff Robert’s skull with a crimson spray. Trails of gore were stomped under horse hooves, and there was no panic coming from the men who mounted their steeds as if they’d senselessly murdered loads of times before.

 

Rey knew in her gut that they had.

 

Even gripping their stolen bank tender, the two men ruthlessly kept shooting. Hit after hit filled the sky. Blood splashed and splattered, but once the thick gunsmoke cleared nobody else blocked the greedy monster's getaway. It was only when spurs met horse skin that it even clicked in Rey’s head that it was _her_ money being stolen. That was her farm funds that she’d saved for years that were in danger, and she raised her firearm to protect her earnings.

 

Tired of feeling like choices were out of her hands, Rey offered no mercy even after recognizing the rubies glinting on the masked robber’s gun.

 

_“When you finally fire don’t jerk the trigger. Gun pops back at you, but you stay smooth the whole way through. You’ve got life and death in your hands, and so you control it. You own your motions, and don’t you dare flinch and give your prey time to get away.”_

 

Following advice he’d once gave her, Rey sent a bullet ripping straight out the window and deep into Kylo’s body. Watching the bags of money immediately drop to the ground as his horse took off with a slumped lifeless body on its back. Watching all their possible dreams lost in the smoke thanks to mutual greed.  

 

No, Kylo wasn’t a good guy, but it turned out that Rey wasn’t entirely good either.

___________________________________________________

 

After a hefty tip, the last of Rey’s trunks were arranged onto the train. All her life packed up tidily although she’d felt messy earlier that week. Ignoring the stares directed towards her scandalous lack of chaperone, Rey again made her own way. Traveling across the country with a man’s blood still on her hands, her eyes looked remarkably untroubled, her step sure. She'd witnessed carnage up close, she'd seen blood stain wood, but the gunfight had also brought her clarity. After pulling that trigger, Rey knew exactly what she wanted to do, and even better, she knew how to do it. Passing by booth after booth inside the locomotive, she smiled in relief when tossing her newspaper onto a table. Nonchalantly sitting across from a man who looked up in surprise when she pushed the pages over to him.

 

“Have you read the news today?”

 

Setting down his coffee, the man glanced over at the pages. “Anything good?”

 

“Indeed,“ Rey responded, eyes lighting up proudly for the first time in days. “There’s a story in there about the town I’m from.”

 

“Fancy that.”

 

“Mmhmm, see there was a robbery at the bank, and I ended up shooting one of the criminals.”

 

“You shot him?” he echoed his brow furrowing in disbelief.

 

“Yes sir, and right here it says that all that was left of him ‘was smeared blood leading into the brush’," she repeated the words verbatim, pointing to the sentence."And the wilderness is so darn thick in Buffalo that folks assume they’ll never find his body. Figure his selfish bones will end up picked clean by buzzards before the town can attempt to hang him for a show.”

 

Rubbing his bandaged shoulder, Kylo glared at her. “So you come to finish the job you started?”

 

“Now your heart is awfully bigger than an apple,” Rey pointed out, skimming a finger down her chest to trace over that exact spot. “You don’t think I could have hit an organ if I wanted to?”

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

“It’s funny that I can tell that you’re more frightened of my answer than you are of bullets.”

 

“Answer the question.”

 

“I want you.”

 

A long beat of silence lay between them as his Adam’s apple bobbed. Only their breathing heard as his gaze slowly drifted from her eyes down to lips he’d thought about for days. Lips he never thought he’d see again. Lips that were attached to a woman who’d shot him.

 

“Why are you really here?” he sharply asked, not showing any outward sign that he cared when her smile slightly crumpled.

 

“The truth is that I sold the farm, packed up my belongings, and I took three trains to reach you.”

 

“One, I didn’t ask how you get here. And two, what makes you think I won’t drag you into a storage closet in order to wrap my hands around your throat?”

 

“I hope you will,” Rey cooed, sensually biting her lip. “After all, it’s the very least you could do to thank me since the feds won’t be looking for a dead man anymore.”

 

Sliding his hand down to the gun at his hip, Kylo didn’t break eye contact. “That won’t stop me from pursuing my business.”

 

Sliding her hand down to the gun in her purse, Rey’s slow smile grew.

 

“Good, now we can both be bad together.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed some Western Reylo, and hope you enjoy all the other wonderful fics in the RSSC! Love to hear what you thought about it.


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